As many as 200 rivers are likely to get registered during the three-day 44th river festival scheduled on the banks of holy Narmada river from February 13. While talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, Rajya Sabha member and convenor of the Narmada Samagra, Anil Madhav Dave said that this would be for the first time that instead of people, rivers of the country would be registered during the festival.
“At present, the target of 200 rivers has been fixed. If this target is achieved, this would be the biggest festival of the World having so many rivers registered,” he added, saying that those representing rivers would be additional participants in the festival. He informed that the theme of the festival this year would be ‘River catchment area, Chemicals and Crisis’. The festival would be opened by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and on the same day, Prasar Bharti Chief Surya Prakash would express his views on river conservation.
Similarly, on the second day, RSS national sah karyavahak Bhajjayji Joshi and Union Minister Uma Bharti would remain present along with noted environmentalist Subhash Kelkar. Talking about recording of a song towards Narmada river conservation in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice, Dave stated that he has agreed to the proposal, but the recording process would cost around Rs 1 crore and thus he is considering cash contribution from different corners. “If nothing works out, I would request the State government,” he added. Earlier, in the morning, Dave performed bhumi pujan for the festival at Bandrabhan, on the banks of the river, around 10 kms from Hoshangabad district headquarters.